that is not jake dog... but you get the idea

that is not jake dog
the markings are similar
while in actuality that image is just some random dog off the net

last week early into the week I was drowning my sorrows and thought I would call a friend who may understand

an old friend russell had a dog named jake
jake was a special dog that I loved dearly
russell had a special relationship with a special dog
although russell had moved to brooklyn by the time I got my dogs
he did meet roscoe and brutus
but never long enough to learn the specialness of my two dogs; roscoe and brutus

knowing that russell knows dogs and that russell knows me
I thought that he would be a good ear to chew on

as it turns out russell lost his buddy jake just one week prior to my calling him

we spent most of the conversation talking about jake
not much discussion about roscoe and brutus or how I am doing or how brutus is doing
which was fine....
as I loved jake
and really just called to have someone to talk to that would understand

it was sad news
but
it was good to talk with a friend

one remarkable anecdote from the tales of jake-dog....

one night I was over at Russell's grouphouse in Crestwood
an intersting group house as it was in a more suburban style neighborhood than most dc group houses
the house was more like something the brady bunch would live in
or better yet
it would be a good place for them to film the documentary KIDS
the wood paneling in the basement and the pool in the backyard would be as valuable a backdrop as the around the clock games of Sony PlayStation

on night late into the night on the approach of morning
all the playstation built up some serious hunger
so we went out back to fire up the grill
while the coals were going from flame to ember we cooled off in the pool
after some splashing and horsing about we started to feast on some food off the grill
while we ate hot dogs and sausages to soak up the beer in our bellies Jake started to entertain himself

jake has seen it before
jake had seen it that night
so he went ahead and tried it for himself
jake jumped in and swam over to the blue foam raft
with his big head he pushed the raft to the side of the pool
then he swam towards the stairs and got out of the pool
with a long and intentional approach jake ran towards the pool

instead of leaping into the water and making a heroic splash jake leaped onto the blue foam mat
he surfed it to the middle of the pool
jumped off
and then pushed the mat to the side again

jake repeated the process a handful of times
balancing quite well
but hating it all the way
a nervous look took over his face that was givne away by the whites of his eyes

although jake appeared not to enjoy this task
he explored it just the same
it was an impressive site
jake was a good dog
I have a lot of great memories of that dog
some of those memories just simlpy hanging out and petting his big pit bull head